Strollers Buying Guide

With so many stroller brands, types and models available on the market, purchasing the right baby stroller for your family can seem like a nearly impossible task. At Strollers Direct, we understand how difficult it can be to wade through the endless stroller possibilities so we developed a stroller buying guide. Our stroller buying guide is designed to make the stroller shopping process easier for you.

Identifying Your Stroller Needs

Knowing when, where and how often you plan to use your stroller is the first step in the stroller selection process. To help determine your needs, you may find it helpful to answer the following questions:

• How many children will need to ride in the stroller? While the single child stroller is the most popular type of stroller, manufacturers also provide an array of multi-child strollers including double, triple and quadruple models.
• What are the ages of the children who will ride in the stroller? This is important because a newborn will require a stroller with a seat that fully reclines.
• Where will the stroller be used most often? Knowing where you will be using the stroller and what type of terrain it will be used on can help you to determine which stroller features will be most important to you. Some common stroller uses include mall shopping, walks through neighborhoods/parks, jogging and travel.

Selecting a Stroller Type

There are several different stroller types available. Each stroller type has a unique design and specific features that make it suitable for different strolling situations. Some strollers are designed for taking walks and shopping in malls while others are better suited for jogging and hiking on various outdoor terrains. There are also strollers designed to hold multiple children in groups of two, three and even four. To select which stroller type will be best suited for your needs, read our section on Baby Stroller Types.

Familiarize Yourself with the Major Brands

With several large stroller brands on the market, it can be difficult to know which brand has the most to offer. To make it easier for you to decide which of the major stroller brands are the best, we’ve researched each of them for you. Take a look at what each brand has to offer your family by reading our article Knowing the Stroller Brands.

How to Choose the Right Stroller

There are several different aspects of a stroller that you’ll need to evaluate or consider when selecting a stroller for your family. Size, maneuverability, weight and durability as well as other factors will play a role in which stroller models you feel are the best fit for your needs. The article How to Choose the Right Stroller for Your Family can help you to understand how each of these factors will affect your stroller buying decision.

Finding a Stroller That Works With Your Budget

The key to find a stroller that is priced within your budget is to have a good idea of how often you’ll be using the stroller. If you will not be relying on your stroller on a regular or daily basis, you may find that a moderately priced model will suit your needs just fine. On the other hand, many parents often believe that a stroller’s quality and safety are directly related to its price. If you are concerned that buying a quality stroller will break your budget, reviewing our article Do I Need to Buy an Expensive Stroller? can help you determine if a pricey stroller is necessary.

Picking the Best Model

The final stage in the stroller selection process is to select the model that you will purchase. Use our Stroller Comparison Tool to generate side-by-side comparisons of the stroller models that you are the most interested in purchasing. Viewing a side-by-side comparison can help you to evaluate the strollers and determine which model has more of the features that you need or want.

Reading parent-submitted reviews of the stroller models can also be very helpful in the selection process since other parents can give you insight on the day-to-day use of a stroller. To see reviews from parents like you, check out our Stroller Reviews section.